new to forum, need help

Hi I am new here...
Been visiting this site to try to answer my own questions regarding issues im having with my new dripper atomizers i just bought. ive been vaping since january, havent smoked a cigarette since. ive always used kangertech atomizers and most recently my setup has been the new kangertech aerotank mega with a k100 clone mod. its been sufficient enough but constantly has this little issue of leaking juice from the airflow hole.
Ive thought for a while now that switching to dripping would be a fun and exciting hobby that would give me the vapor output that i want aswell as the feeling of satisfaction. and yes, there is a lot of ego connected to dripping and blowing fat clouds for me personally. lol.
so now i have my own dripper and big fat mod to go with it and i just keep running in to problem after problem and when ive gone to the vape shop to ask questions i just get sold more equipment. i cant keep spending more money, and the part of me that doesnt want to give up, wants to buckle down and figure this technique out so that i dont feel like i just wasted all my hard earned money.

currently my issue is that my atomizer keeps burning the [Moderated] out of my throat. the coils were burning unevenly and there were 'hot legs' on the coils. now that ive seperated the coils a little bit making them looser they all seem to be burning correctly but still burn my throat.
another lovely issue is that the whole thing will catch fire if i burn it for too long while watching for coil abnormalities.

i have a ton of questions and just want my investment to be worthwhile.
please keep in mind that all the terms ive used so far is pretty much the extent of my vocab for vaping. so try to keep it simple for me.
thanks!

Last edited by Robino1; 09-01-2014 at 11:26 PM.
Reason: Please do not try to evade forum censors by placing symbols instead of letters. Thank you :)

Just out of curiosity, what kind of juice are you vaping? Do you know the ratio of PG/VG? What level of nicotine? Have you tried a different brand or mix of juice with your current setup? Juice has ALOT to do with throat hit..

I am using the juice I bought with my atomizer, idk the VG/pg levels but it is 6 mg. The first time i had the burning happen i was using a different kind of juice and started using this new kind and that fixed the problem but now the same thing is happening with this juice and a new build. when it did catch on fire one of the times the cotton was saturated with juice.... so idk if dry-ness was the issue. Thanks for your quick responses!

Hi XG, welcome to ECF. You are entering the forums like a lot of folks have - bewildered, slightly broke, and looking for help. This was me at least.

I have had several of the problems you listed. My Aerotanks have (and still do) give me some headaches and I've had my dripper catch fire a few times. These things are not exactly normal, but it's a lot like riding a bike - you are not cruising down mountain paths and popping wheelies when you start out.

Some specific feedback on your issues:

Aerotank leaking: This could be any number of things from factory defects to use issues. Some things you can potentially try are verifying your are using genuine Kangertech atomizer heads - specifically the new version that has the ohm rating printed on the atomizer head. You could try using a higher VG to PG ratio so that the juice is thicker and may leak through less. Be careful with going too high on the VG though since you can have wicking issues with juice that's too thick. Regular cleaning may also stave off the leaking. If you are going to buy a new Aerotank consider using a vendor that will provide a warranty and deal with Kangertech in the event of defective parts. Some B&M's won't do this for you, some will.

Aerotank + k100: I have both of these and I can tell you they are not going to work well together. Actually now that I'm thinking about it this could be related to your leaking issue. The k100 is a mech mod and it cannot bump up the voltage enough to properly heat a dual coil tank. The result is almost always flooding of the atomizer head chamber (meaning you pull more liquid into the atomizer head than you can vaporize). This excess has to go somewhere and gravity says go down. I have not have flooding so severe that resulted in juice coming out of the air intake hole, but it seems like a plausible explanation for your issue. Regardless of the leaking though this is probably not going to be an enjoyable vape since the coils are just not going to get hot enough. One option you can try if you like this setup is switching to the newer 0.8 sub-ohm Kangertech atomizer heads, or a 1.5 ohm atomizer head if the sub-ohm heads are giving you a dry hit (the 0.8's can have wicking issues - the opposite of what you may be getting with heads you are using now).

Regarding your dripper catching fire - others on the forum can probably give you better advice on this, but it is likely related to just burning it without juice on there. If you're trying to burn off the coil to clean it up it's best to combine this with re-wicking with fresh cotton. For what it's worth I've been slowly learning about dripping and mechs for a couple of months now, and I still feel like I've got 0.001% figured out. It takes time to learn the ins and outs. You really need to do your research on this to do it safely. For instance you don't mention the type of battery or the resistance of the coil you are using on your dripper. Using the wrong battery with a low resistance coil can be very dangerous - you need to be careful.

Last but not least, I think it's important to have a safe and comfortable device + backup. It can be very rewarding to dive deeper into more advanced vaping, but for a lot of us priority #1 is not smoking cigarettes anymore. I know if I don't have 2 reliable batteries and relatively hassle free tanks to use with them that I'm at risk. So my suggestion for everyone is to have a couple of lower cost devices like a Vision Spinner II, or an MVP 2.0 (not as cheap, but more versatile). Once you've got a comfortable daily vape it will relieve some of the stress around learning the more advanced techniques.